Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has come a long way since its creation over a century ago. The martial art has been shared around the world, even to places you might not expect.
This brings us to the incredible story of KAO BJJ. We received a message from a young blue belt from Ethiopia named Leyk a week ago.
This young blue belt shared with us the story of how his small Ethiopian manages to survive and train. Check out the story of KAO below and see how you can help them make their dreams come true.
- Stewart, Colin (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 225 Pages – 06/30/2024 (Publication Date) – Highland Haus Press (Publisher)
How the Hell Did BJJ Get Introduced Into Ethiopia?
So, you may have an obvious question about this story: How the hell did BJJ get introduced into Ethiopia? The story starts with KAO’s head coach, Yared Nigussie.
Yared started practicing Jeet Kune Do in 2005 and fell in love with martial arts. Five years later, Yared started practicing Judo and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu with a man named Dr. Tsegaye.
After Nigussie began learning grappling techniques, he met a practitioner named Sean at a BJJ seminar. This introduction to Jiu-Jitsu made Yared incredibly passionate about learning the martial art.
Sean sent Yared multiple instructional DVDs, and he began studying the techniques from the instructionals.
Coach Yared’s Journey to Blue Belt
Despite not having a higher-level coach, Nigussie continued studying while he taught kid’s Judo classes in Addis Ababa. After a few years, Yared met some ex-pats who practiced Jiu-Jitsu and began training with them briefly.
Through Yared’s persistence, he got a sponsorship to travel and train in Europe. He finally learned from experienced professors and was awarded his blue belt at Gracie Barra, Italy.
The Creation of KAO BJJ
Once Yared got his blue belt, he returned to build his country’s first-ever Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team. Despite him just being a blue belt, he started teaching classes in the Juventus club, where he taught Judo.
Pretty soon, Yared would gather a group of young Ethiopian grapplers eager to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This included Leyk, who sent us the message of their amazing story.
Thanks to Yared being a Judo instructor, the Japanese embassy donated mats for them to use.
Enter BJJ Black Belt, Colin Stewart
Life has a funny way of rewarding people for their hard work; something remarkable happened at KAO. An American black belt named Colin Stewart was sent to Ethiopia to work at the local US embassy.
Colin contacted Yared and began teaching the team. Having a black belt coach helped the team start reaching their potential and achieving their dreams.
Stewart would promote Yared to purple belt and many within the group to blue, including Leyk. The American black belt also created social media accounts for KAO to get the word out about the group.
At one point, the gym had over 50 members and grew exponentially.
KAO BJJ Becomes a Choke Lab Affiliate School.
Colin also helped KAO become an affiliated school. The team contacted Choke Lab and made the group an official affiliate gym.
Unfortunately, Colin’s work contract ended, and he had to leave the country. However, he still stays in contact with the team and helps them by sending instructionals when he can.
Yared continues being the head coach, but the team often invites higher belts to teach when they visit the country.
The Obstacles KAO Has Faced
KAO’s introduction of Jiu-Jitsu to Ethiopia has been an exciting ride, but it hasn’t been without struggles. The team has had to deal with numerous obstacles during their journey.
The country has been in a constant state of civil war for years, which has led to the country being heavily impoverished. The Ethiopian government also has very strict laws and high import taxes marked at over 300%
These absurd laws, taxes, and extreme poverty have prevented the team from buying new training gear. KAO has to rely on foreigners who visit the gym to bring Gis and shorts to donate.
COVID also nearly forced the school to shut down completely, but they’ve persevered and continued.
Bow Before No Man: The Origin of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Ethiopia
To help pay for gym expenses and help the team grow, Colin Stewart released the book
Bow Before No Man: The Origin of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Ethiopiais a compilation of stories from the KAO students and their Jiu-Jitsu journey.
The book goes into more detail about how the school was formed and the students’ lives. It is a phenomenal book and shows how passionate this crew is about Jiu-Jitsu.
All the money from each purchase goes directly to support the gym and help them continue growing.
KAO Spreading BJJ Within Ethiopia
Despite the constant struggles, KAO is still growing. In the past few years, students have been able to travel to other countries and compete in international tournaments.
They constantly travel to compete in the JJIF African Championships and even AJP and IBJJF events. One of their blue belts, Johnny, won double gold at the Nairobi Invitational, and Yared is the defending JJIF champion.
Through KAO’s growth, members of the team have established numerous social projects. KAO blue belt Leyk established his own social project called Grace MMA: a free program for teens and kids to learn BJJ and MMA, which gives them a lifeline.
As Colin suggested, KAO has also created its own intramural competition: Warrior King’s Open(WKO). WKO has been a success, and it has run seven events.
How You Can Help KAO BJJ
KAO BJJ is genuinely an incredible story and embodies the beauty and love of Jiu-Jitsu. Through their love of grappling, they have persevered and introduced the martial art to their country.
It’s incredible how far this team has come and the outreach and support they’ve received. However, being the first-ever BJJ school in Ethiopia is still a never-ending struggle.
KAO BJJ could use the support of the Jiu-Jitsu community to help them continue growing and achieve their dreams. If you want to support them, please consider buying their book through the link above. The money from each purchase goes directly to the team.
You can also contact the team directly on Instagram @kao_bjj.
This is really a group of good people who are passionate about training. Please give them a follow and support them in continuing their grappling journey!
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.